


Landing on the Moon

by spoilersweetie



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-30
Updated: 2018-10-30
Packaged: 2019-08-11 00:59:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16465670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spoilersweetie/pseuds/spoilersweetie
Summary: The Doctor had never been a vain being (alright, not much) and she didn’t much care what form she ended up in (even if she did she feels she’d be pretty pleased this time round) but there was something that was really bugging her about this face. “I know you,” she says as she locks eyes with herself in the mirror above the console. “Where have I seen you before?”





	Landing on the Moon

**Author's Note:**

> There is a shocking lack of thirteen/River fics around and I intend to rectify that. This feels a bit all over the place to me but I'm still trying to learn how to write her so that's kind of what these little pieces of fics are atm, thought I may as well share to see what you think. I'll write something decent when I've figured it out. Probably.

Between trying to get her new friends home and running from giant spiders, all things considered the Doctor hadn’t had a lot of time to ponder her new form yet, only those twenty minutes or so as she’d stood in front of the mirror in a charity shop changing room. It had nudged at the back of her mind then, and every time she’d passed by a reflective surface and got a glimpse of herself since (it may be her thirteenth time round but one never got used to the disengaged feeling that came with the first few weeks of a new regeneration) she was reminded of it. The Doctor had never been a vain being (alright, not much) and she didn’t much care what form she ended up in (even if she did she feels she’d be pretty pleased this time round) but there was something that was really bugging her about this face.

“I know you,” she says as she locks eyes with herself in the mirror above the console. “Where have I seen you before?”

She sighs, knowing there is something so familiar about her new face but just being unable to place it.

“Am I just going mad?” She asks quietly, and the ship gives a soft whirr in response. Not amused - she knows that one. This was more of a soothing sound. “You know don’t you?” She asks the ship, which is silent. She stares at herself for another moment, racking her brains before she makes a sound of frustration

“You could help you know!” she says to the Tardis.

After a pause the engines roar to life and the Doctor grins, racing round the console to pull down the lever and send her into flight. When they land she flies to the scanner in excitement, only for her face to fall when it pulls up an image of a bare, grey surface.

“The moon? What’ve you taken me to the moon for?” She jabs a few buttons. “You’re losing the plot in your old age.”

The Tardis gives a lurch, throwing the Doctor almost off her feet into the console.

“Alright, alright,” She grumbles, pulling herself upright as the ships lights flicker and glow around her. “What are you trying to tell me then? Think, what’s on the moon…” She stares hard at the image. “Well - nothing currently. Not until around the fiftieth century when humans  _ finally _ get round to building that settlement they’ve been on about for the last thirty thousand years - and then it’s rubbish! I mean there’s nothing there except for that amusement park and the uni...versity…”

The Doctor trails off as her mouth falls open. “Luna,” she breathes, and suddenly she knows. 

“I remember,” she gasps, gripping tight to the console as her legs feel suddenly week. “I know where I’ve seen myself!”

Almost stumbling, she tears round to the other side to bring the engines back to life, typing in co-ordinates with hammering hearts. When she realises she only needs to move in time and not position, her hearts beat faster still with more hope. 

“Oh Please,” she whispers to the ship as her hand closes around the lever. “Please… please give me this.” 

The Doctor takes a deep breath, closes her eyes, and pulls the lever. 

\--

Yaz was wandering the Tardis corridors in search of a kitchen - she was certain there was at least one on this floor - when the ship suddenly gives a violent lurch that sends her staggering into the wall. 

“What the hell was that?” She mutters, and decides to head to the console room to investigate - she wasn’t having much luck on her kitchen hunt anyway and maybe the Doctor could direct her. When she gets there however she feels the ship begin to move again and clutches at the wall for support. Yaz looks over to see the Doctor racing round the console, her eyes bright as she flies her ship, and moments later the familiar sound of the Tardis breaks easing them into landing. 

Yaz opens her mouth to announce her arrival but pauses as she sees the Doctor staring at the screen in front of her like she’d just witnessed the birth of a sun. 

She mutters something, spinning on her heel and racing towards the door before whirling back round, pulling something down above the console and - was she -  _ checking her hair? _ Before taking off again, out of the Tardis doors. 

Yaz could go back to bed. Leave the Doctor to whatever it was she was doing and maybe casually ask where she’d got to last night the next day. She bites her lip. Or she could just follow. 

As soon as the young police officer eases open the door and the chill air hits her face, her breath catches in her throat.

She could see the earth! At least she was pretty sure it was the earth - the whole earth - she was looking up at it, looming in the sky above. If she was looking at the earth from a distance but still this close that could only mean... “Oh my god,” she realises. “I’m on the moon.” The burst of wonder is short-lived when she looks around to find herself in what looks like the back garden of a house in a suburban neighbourhood. 

“I don’t know when… but I’m pretty sure I’m on the moon,” she mutters to herself, stepping outside. Another glance up at the earth tells her that this definitely isn’t her own time - she’s certain the world wouldn’t be covered in such a dense blanket of lights in the time she’s from. It was so bright it was almost lighting the moon’s atmosphere. She shivers a bit - there’s no breeze but she feels a chill to the still air, and wraps her arms tighter around herself, tearing her eyes away from the earth to take in her surroundings properly - and that’s when she spots the Doctor. 

Yaz is about to call out to her but something in the way she’s pacing and wringing her hands, muttering like she’s debating with herself makes her stop short. Instead she ducks behind one of the neatly trimmed hedges in the tidy garden, to watch curiously as the Doctor clearly makes a decision and steps up to the front door of a pretty white house. 

She lifts her hand as if to knock on the door, then pauses, freezing for a moment. Yaz had never seen the Doctor unsure of anything before and it’s strange to see her friend look so lost. She makes to knock but stops again, pausing for another beat - then she drops her hand, shaking her head and stepping back as if to turn away, before she spins back around, takes a visible deep breath and lifts her hand again. She knocks.

There is a suspended moment when nothing happens and Yaz feels herself holding her breath along with the Doctor in anticipation. Then the door swings open and Yaz cranes her neck to see as a woman appears in the doorway, the light from inside making the edges of her mass of curly hair glow.

The woman smiles and says something to the Doctor then Yaz watches, stunned, as the Doctor crumbles to her knees before her. 

The curly-haired woman follows the Doctor to the ground, pulling her hands from her face and tugging her into her arms. Yaz can see her murmuring softly to the Doctor as she rocks her gently and feels tears sting in her eyes at the emotions she can feel radiating from the scene before her. She doesn’t know what’s happening, doesn’t know who the woman is or why the Doctor has reacted the way she had to seeing her but something tells Yaz this is something to do with that family the Doctor had mentioned losing.

She knows she should look away, but she knew such little about the woman she travelled with who kept so much of her past and feelings close to her chest, that seeing her like this, getting a glimpse into her private life... Yaz was fascinated.

The woman pulls back slightly to take the Doctor’s face in her hands and look at her, and then the Doctor grabs the woman by the collar of her robe and surges forward to kiss her desperately. Yaz feels herself go hot, and bites her lip, feeling guilt settle in her stomach as she watches the private scene take place. After a moment the two woman break apart and the Doctor moves a hand to the woman’s face, saying something to her, and she nods in response before getting up and tugging the Doctor to her feet. She pulls her close and they kiss again, getting lost in each other, and Yaz gives herself a firm shake, tearing her eyes from the scene and creeping away back to the Tardis to give her friend her privacy. 

\--

“You’re sure we’re on the moon?”

“I’m not sure of anything,” Yaz answers Graham the next morning, as they head up to the house they’d landed outside last night. At least - Yaz thinks it was last night; it’s still dark but she doesn’t think there’s daytime on the moon? “But this is where the Doctor is.”

They stop outside the house. 

“Do you think we should just wait? I’m sure she’ll come back when she’s ready. You said you thought she was visiting a friend.”

“Something like that yeah,” Yaz mumbles. 

“We kind of have waited a while already,” says Ryan. “And I don’t know about you lot but I’m hungry and I can’t find a kitchen inside  _ anywhere _ .”

“I couldn’t find it last night either when I wanted a glass of water.”

“I think that ship’s got a mind of its own, and it’s a bit creepy,” says Graham. 

Yaz makes a decision and knocks on the door in front of them. 

“Oh!” Says the Doctor when the door opens a crack and her head pops round it. “...Hello you lot.”

Yaz clears her throat. “We just wondered where we’d landed. And..”

“And when we were gonna go somewhere for breakfast,” Graham speaks up.

“Right,” Says the Doctor, looking between them for a moment. “How did you know where I was?”

Yaz shifts on her feet. “I sort of... saw you come in here last night. Also you parked the Tardis in the front garden,” she motions to the ship behind them.

“Oh... yeah,” she glances into the house behind her. “Erm... Give us half an hour yeah?”

She closes the door and they hear mumbling behind it before it swings open again and the woman Yaz had seen last night stands the other side dressed in a short silk robe. “Sorry, my wife has no manners,” she says, rolling her eyes.  _ Wife?? _ “Come in, come in,” She beckons them as they look at each other, a bit bewildered. “I’ve just put the kettle on. Toast?”

“Ooh yeah please I’m starving,” says Graham.

“Of course you are,” River smiles at him as she leads them to a comfortable lounge. “Teas, coffees? I’ve got black roast Graham.”

“Er.. says Graham looking at the others, “Yeah... please...”

“Ryan, Yaz?”

“Uh - tea please,” says Yaz automatically

“Sorry,” says Ryan. “I don’t mean to be rude or anything but... who are you? And how do you know our names?”

“Ah sorry.” She holds out a hand. “Professor River Song.” She introduces like it should mean something. When no recognition shows in their eyes her face falls a bit and she turns to the Doctor who was rummaging around in the connecting kitchen like she owned it. 

“You never mentioned me?” She says, hurt in her voice. 

The Doctor turns from the cupboards to look guiltily at River. “River..” she begins softly but cuts off like so doesn’t know what to say. Graham clears his throat.

“You’re the Doctor's wife right, her family?” He says and River nods. “Of course she’s mentioned you, just not by name. I think... when you miss someone it can be hard to say their name out loud sometimes,” he says, full of understanding and the Doctor gives him a grateful smile over the countertops. 

The Doctor clears her throat after a pause, breaking the tension in the room. “One tea and two coffees was it? Does this go in here?”

“ _ No _ ,” says the woman - River _ \-  _ moving round into the kitchen to take the bag of sugar from the Doctor’s hand and shoo her away from the coffee-maker. 

“I’ll make omelettes!” Announces the Doctor with excitement, going for the fridge. 

“Not in my kitchen you won’t,” River’s stern voice halts her in her tracks. 

“But I’m brilliant at omelettes! At least I think I am.” She looks at the others and shrugs. “I was before.”

“You’re brilliant at nothing in the kitchen but making a mess this time around sweetie,” River rolls her eyes. 

“What, really?” The Doctor’s face falls a bit. “Am I worse than you?”

River points a spoon at her. “Watch it.”

Yaz glances at her friends to see them watching the scene take place in front of them with as much bemusement as she felt. 

“I could do the drinks -” Says the Doctor. 

“ _ No _ , honey,” River takes the milk out of her hands before it can go into the kettle. “Go and sit down with your friends, I’ll make the breakfast.”

“Fine,” The Doctor relents. 

“Sweetie.”

“Mm?”

“You might want to put some clothes on first though.”

Yaz’s eyes widen as the Doctor steps from behind the kitchen counters dressed in nothing but a large t-shirt and her blue socks. Graham makes a noise of alarm and spins away, and Yaz doesn’t have to glance at Ryan to know his mouth is hanging open. 

“Right,” says the Doctor, looking down at herself before tugging at the hem of the tshirt. “Not really appropriate for company is it?”

“Not really no,” agrees Yaz, trying not to stare at her bare legs. 

“I’ll be right back. River where are my…”

“Landing,” Answers River. 

Yaz definitely doesn't stare as the Doctor darts away but she’s pretty sure she wasn’t wearing underwear beneath that shirt. 

“Sit down,” River motions to them from the kitchen. “I won’t be long - mind the cat, Yaz,” She says and Yaz jumps a bit, realises she was about to sit where a stripy ginger cat is curled contentedly on the sofa. She perches herself on the edge next to it as Ryan and Graham sit down beside her. 

“How does she know who we are?” Ryan leans over to whisper and Graham shrugs. “Time-travel,” Yaz reminds him. “I mean I’m guessing…”

“Yes, we’ve met before,” Says River as she sets a plate of toast down on the coffee table in front of them. “You just haven’t done it yet.”

“That is so weird man,” Says Ryan.

“So,” says Graham when she’s back rummaging around the kitchen, clearly feeling to need to fill the silence with small talk. “How long have you and the Doctor been married?”

“Oh a few hundred years,” River waves a hand. “Give or take - for me anyway.”

“Sorry, what? I thought you said a few hundred years?” Yaz checks. 

“Yes, I did,” River flashes them a smile, gathering some plates and cutlery which she takes into the lounge. 

“Does that mean - I’m sorry if this is a rude question,” Yaz hesitates but River just smiles warmly at her. 

“Go ahead.”

“Are you... not human? Like the Doctor?”

“Human plus,” River says with a smirk as she sets down the plates, along with butter, jam and something else in a jar that Yaz doesn’t recognise. 

Yaz opens her mouth but isn’t sure what to say to that.

“Plus what?” Ryan blurts out.

“Alien,” Yaz mutters, elbowing him. “Obviously.”

“River!” Comes a shout from upstairs, “Have you seen my sonic?”

“It’s in the bed,” River yells back and when she turns to see the three starting at her she pauses.

“My lamp was broken,” River says to them, not even enough shame to try and make the lie sound convincing.

“Right,” mutters Yaz.

“Ah mate I am never gonna be able to look at that thing again,” mumbles Ryan, and River turns away and heads back to the kitchen with a smirk.

When the doctor appears she is thankfully fully dressed, wet hair tucked behind her ears and Yaz wonders how she’d managed to get showered and dressed so fast, mentally adding that to the list of enigmas about the Doctor. It was getting to be a pretty long list.

“I fixed your shower,” she beams at her wife, bouncing into the armchair opposite them and reaching for a piece of toast. 

“It wasn’t broken,” Says River with a frown as she sets down the teas and coffees. 

“Only water came out of it!”

River folds her arms. “And what comes out of it now?”

“Soap!” The Doctor beams. “And shampoo. And the other one. And it plays music - well - eighteen stations, I couldn’t figure out how to tune into the earth ones but I’ll sort that next time.”

“Wonderful looking forward to it,” says River, rolling her eyes. She disappears back to the kitchen before emerging again with two more mugs, handing one to the Doctor and settling herself on the arm of her chair with her own. 

“So, er…” Graham pipes up again. “What is it you do River?”

“Cause trouble mostly,” quips the Doctor, getting an elbow as she sips from her mug. 

“I teach at the university.”

“Here?” Asks Yaz. 

“Luna, yes. Biggest university of it’s time.”

“And…” Says Ryan curiously, “What time is that, exactly.”

“Fifty fourty six.”

“Woah.”

“We’re in the fifty first century!?”

“That’s pretty cool,” says Ryan. 

“What do you teach?” Asks Graham, and River opens her mouth to reply before a ping gets their attention. 

The Doctor tilts her head at Yaz. “Was that your phone?” 

Another ping follows - from Ryan’s pocket this time - followed by another ten or so. Yaz’s email alert tone chimes in too. 

“Woah,” says Ryan as he takes out his phone. “How come I have signal?

“How can my mum be texting me?” Yaz frowns at her phone. “I’m on the moon!” She blinks at her phone. “In the future!” She adds, and looks up at the Doctor with confusion. 

The Doctor reaches over and grabs Ryan’s phone from his hands. 

“Hey!”

“That is really weird,” she mumbles as she stares at it.

“Doctor,” says Ryan, “Remember that conversation we had about the last time you took my phone.”

“Oh right!” She says, quickly handing it back. “Ask permission.”

“Yes.”

“Can I borrow your phone?”

“Well yeah but -”

“Thanks!” She snatches it back. 

“Ryan!” Chides Yaz. “You have to learn to say no!”

“Wait no!” He says, “You’re supposed to tell me what you want it for!”

“Shh, no talking busy,” she says, holding up a finger while she taps away with the other hand. 

“I swear if you wipe all my stuff again -”

“Ah! That’s weird.” She holds the phone up to River who frowns at the screen. 

“It’s probably just broken. Time-travel can really mess with primitive technology, you know that sweetie.”

“What?” Ryan says, alarmed. “Broken!?”

“What  _ both _ our phones - at the same time?”

“Unlikely but possible,” mumbles the Doctor.

“Hang on,” Says Graham, “You think our technology is  _ primitive _ ?”

“I should investigate all the same.” She looks up at River with a grin. “It could be the phone or… time could be broken.” 

“Time!?” It’s Yaz’s turn to be alarmed.

The Doctor leaps to her feet and holds out a hand to her wife. “Coming?”

“It sounds riveting darling but I have a class to teach,” River says, getting to her own feet. 

“What - but River! The fabric of time could be distorted!”

“And running off with you to investigate something always turns into week-long trip, a half-marathon of running and a near-death experience. And my students have finals tomorrow.”

“Fine,” the Doctor grumbles, looking disappointed. “Come on then, you lot,” she says, turning on her heel, and Yaz looks at Ryan and Graham as they get quickly to their feet. 

“Don’t burn a patch on my lawn when you take off again!” River warns as she follows them to the door. 

The Doctor is halfway down the garden path before she snaps her fingers and whirls on her heel with an “Oh, right!” like she’d forgotten something, hurrying back past Yaz and the others to grab her wife by the face and plant a firm kiss on her lips. 

“Sorry,” she mumbles when they part, tucking her hair behind her ear. “Goodbye kisses… a bit out of the habit.”

River chuckles fondly, folding her arms round herself and leaning against the doorframe. 

“Take care of your friends,” She tells the Doctor with a smile. 

“Always, I always take care of you lot, don’t I!?”

“She does, yeah,” smiles Yaz. 

The Doctor pauses and looks up at River through her hair. “Can I come and visit you again soon?” She asks a little shyly.

“Oh I’ve a feeling you’re going to be seeing me again before you get the chance.”

The Doctor's eyes light up. “Really? When? No! Don’t tell me,” she grins at her wife before she spins round and races back to her friends. “Never liked a spoiler,” she grins madly at them before taking off. “Come on!”   
“Can I have my phone back now?” Ryan says as they break into a run after her. “Doctor!”

**Author's Note:**

> I was thinking of writing this from the Doctor's POV with the missing middle scene too but I'm not sure now as I quite like it as is! Thoughts?


End file.
